Flush-type handle assembly



Oct. 20, 1964 B. SANDOR FLUSH-TYPE HANDLE ASSEMBLY 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed Aug. 15, 1962 INVENTOR. /a 5222062" ATTORNEY Oct. 20, 1964 s o 3,153,552

FLUSH-TYPE HANDLE ASSEMBLY EL ml] [EV/\M j INVENTOR.

55/5 fazrcr ATTORNEY United States Patent 3,153,552 FLUSH-TYPE HANDLE ASSEMBLY Bela Sandor, Detroit, Mich, assignor to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich, a corporation of Delaware Filed Aug. 13, 1962, Ser. No. 216,645 3 Claims. (Cl. 292-3363) This invention relates to latch actuating means, and more particularly to a flush-type door handle.

One feature of this invention is that it provides an improved flush-type vehicle door handle. Another feature of this invention is that it provides a flush-type vehicle door handle having an operating portion, a gripping portion movable from an inoperative position to a gripping position upon actuation of the operating portion, and means multiplying the extent that the gripping portion of the handle projects from the surface of the vehicle door as the gripping portion moves to the gripping position thereof, and also releasably holding the gripping portion in its gripipng position for greater ease of operation. A further feature of this invention is that it provides a flush-type door handle including an operating portion and a gripping portion, means mounting both portions upon the vehicle door for movement of the gripping portion from an inoperative position to a gripping position upon actuation of the operating portion, and a multiplier lever mounted on the door by means spaced from the operating and gripping portion mounting means and actuated by the operating portion to move the gripping portion to the gripping position thereof. Yet another feature of this invention is that it provides a flush-type door handle having a gripping portion movable from an inoperative position to a latch actuating position through an intermediate gripping position, an operating portion, a multiplier lever actuated by the operating portion to move the gripping portion from inoperative position to gripping position and to hold the gripping portion in the gripping position, and means for releasing the multiplier lever from the gripping portion upon movement of the gripping portion from the gripping position thereof to the latch actuating position thereof.

These and other features of the invention will be more apparent from the following specifications, having reference to the drawing in which:

FIGURE 1 is a fragmentary side elevational view of a vehicle body having a handle according to this invention mounted on the front door thereof;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 22 of FIGURE 1, showing the handle in its normal inoperative position;

FIGURE 3 is a view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the gripping portion in gripping position;

FIGURE 4 is a partial view similar to FIGURE 2 showing the gripping portion in latch actuating position;

FIGURE 5 is a sectional View taken generally along the plane indicated by line 55 of FIGURE 2;

FIGURE 6 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 66 of FIGURE 3; and

FIGURE 7 is a sectional view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 77 of FIGURE 2.

A flush-type door handle having an operating portion and a gripping portion with means multiplying the extent that the gripping portion extends out from the surface of the door on which the handle is mounted is disclosed in my copending application Serial No. 141,190, entitled Flush-Type Door Handle, filed November 27, 1961, and assigned to the assignee of the present invention. The handle of this invention is an improvement over the handle shown in my copending application in that the multiplying means not only provides the multiplying function but has the additional function of releasably holding the gripping portion of the handle in gripping position 3,153,552 Patented Oct. 20, 1964 "ice without the necessity of constant pressure by an operator on the operating portion of the handle. The holding function and the multiplying function are accomplished with a minimum number of parts as distinguished from previous handles.

Referring now to FIGURE 1 of the drawings, a vehicle body designated generally as 10 includes a door 12 mounted on the body in conventional manner by a suitable hinge means (not shown) adjacent its forward edge 13 for movement between a closed position as shown in FIGURE 1 and an open position, not shown. Door 12 is held in closed position by suitable latch means 16 mounted on the door adjacent the rearward edge thereof and having a movable release member 16a shown fragmentarily in broken lines in FIGURES 2 and 3. The latch means are actuated from the outside of the body by a handle according to this invention designated generally in FIGURE 1 as 17. As shown best in FIGURES 2 and 3, a recessed escutcheon or handle housing 18 extends through an opening 19 in the door outer panel and is bolted at 20 to a bracket 21 which is mounted inside the door outer panel. An elongated handle gripping portion 22 and a handle operating portion or hollow push button 26 are pivotally mounted on the housing 18 by a pin 24 extending between the upper and lower walls of the housing 18. A multiplier lever 28 is pivotally mounted on a pin 30 spaced from pin 24 and also extending between the upper and lower walls of the housing. Lever 28 includes a detent 32 on one end thereof cammingly engageable with a shoulder 34 of gripping portion 22. The other end of the lever 28 is engageable with a camming boss 35 depending from an extension of operating portion 26 which prevents vertical displacement of multiplier lever 28 from its position as shown in FIGURES 5, 6 and 7. Gripping portion 22 includes a reduced thickness leg 36 received within the hollow operating portion 26, best seen in FIGURE 5, leg 36 having a recess 37 which seats one end of a push rod 38 which is urged into engagement with the recess 37 by a coil spring 40 seating against the escutcheon 18 and against a flange or collar 41 of the push rod. yA coil torsion spring 42 mounted 'on pin 30 has'on'e'end thereof hearing against a' lateral tab 44 of multiplier lever 28 and the other end bearing against the operating portion 26 to bias the multiplier lever 28 in a counterclockwise direc tion as the parts appear in FIGURES 2, 3 and 4 and hold an end of the lever against the camming boss 35 of operating portion 26 to locate the operating portion 26 in its inoperative position, as shown in FIGURE 2. Spring 40, operating through push rod 38, locates the gripping portion 22 in its normal inoperative position in engagement with portion 26, detent 32 and a rubber bumper 46 mounted on escutcheon 18. The engagement of tab 44 with the inner wall of the escutcheon limits counterclockwise movement of lever 28.

When finger pressure is applied by an operator on operating portion 26, this portion will rotate clockwise about pin 24 against the force of spring 42 to swing the multiplier lever 28 about pin 30. A multiplication factor results from this arrangement by virtue of the spaced pivot points 24 and 30 of the operating portion 26 and multiplier lever 28 respectively, and the long lever arm of detent end 32. Thus, the extent that the gripping portion 22 projects out from the door is multiplied over the amount that it would project if these same parts, the multiplier lever or camming part, and the gripping portion or cammed part, pivot about the same axis. The forced movement of multiplier lever 28 causes the detent end 32 to cam along the shoulder 34 of gripping portion 22 to move the gripping portion outward in a clockwise direction from the escutcheon 18 until gripping portion 22 reaches a gripping position, as shown in FIGURE 3, whereupon the detent end 32 of the multiplier lever 28 falls into a notch 34a formed at the end of shoulder 34, thus holding gripping portion 22 in its gripping position against the urging of coil spring 40 and push rod 38. During rotation of gripping portion 22 into its gripping position the leg 36 of the gripping portion has moved into a path forcing the push rod 38 to axially traverse through an aperture of the escutcheon 18 against the pressure of coil spring 40. As is seen in FIGURE 3, the push rod at the end of this motion has come into contact at its other end with the movable release member 16a of latch mechanism 16 mounted inside the door.

Once gripping portion 22 has reached the gripping position, an operator may easily grasp the gripping portion and pull the gripping portion further away from the door as shown in FIGURE 4, thus releasing the detent end 32 of multiplier lever 28 and allowing coil spring 42 to force multiplier lever 28 and operating portion 26 back into inoperative position. This further movement of gripping portion 22 from its gripping position causes push rod 38 to slide axially inward, moving the release member 16a to actuate the door latch mechanism. Upon operator release of the gripping portion 22, coil spring 40 urges the push rod 38 in a direction rotating the leg 36 of gripping portion 22 counterclockwise. The completion of this movement caused by the spring 40 occurs when gripping portion 22 falls within the recess of escutcheon 18 and rests against rubber bumper 46. All parts are then again in inoperative position, as shown in FIGURE 2.

While I have shown and described one embodiment of my invention, it is capable of many modifications. Changes, therefore, in the construction and arrangement may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as set forth in the appended claims.

I claim:

1. In a vehicle body having a latch and a latch release member, a latch handle including a gripping portion provided with detent means, an operating portion, means pivotally mounting said handle portions on said body :for swinging movement between an inoperative position and a latch actuating position, a multiplier lever movably mounted on said body and having detent means adjacent one end thereof, said multiplying lever multiplying the extent of movement of said gripping portion from the 45 inoperative toward the latch actuating position thereof, said multiplier lever detent means engaging said gripping portion detent means when said gripping portion reaches an intermediate gripping position to releasably hold said gripping portion in said gripping position, said gripping portion being movable from the gripping position to the latch actuating position thereof independently of said operating portion to cause engagement between said gripping portion and said latch release member to actuate said latch.

2. In a vehicle body having a latch and a latch release member, a latch handle including a gripping portion provided with detent means, an operating portion, means pivotally mounting said gripping portion on said body for movement between inoperative and latch actuating positions and pivotally mounting said operating portion for movement between inoperative and operative positions, a multiplier lever having detent means adjacent one end thereof, means spaced from said handle portion mounting means for mounting said multiplier lever on said body for movement independently of said handle portions, said multiplier lever being responsive to movement of said operating portion from inoperative to operative positions to move said. gripping portion to a multiplied extent from the inoperative position thereof to an intermediate gripping position, said multiplier lever detent means engaging said gripping portion detent means in the gripping position of said gripping portion to releasably hold said gripping portion in the gripping position thereof, said gripping portion being movable from the gripping position to the latch actuating position thereof independently of said operating portion to cause engagement between said gripping portion and said latch release member to actuate said latch, and means operable upon movement of said gripping portion from gripping position to latch actuating position to release said detent means and move said operating portion from operative to inoperative position.

3. A latch handle as recited in claim 2, wherein said operable means includes biasing means urging said multiplier lever in a direction to release said detent means and to engage and move said operating portion from operative to inoperative positions.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 

1. IN A VEHICLE BODY HAVING A LATCH AND A LATCH RELEASE MEMBER, A LATCH HANDLE INCLUDING A GRIPPING PORTION PROVIDED WITH DETENT MEANS, AN OPERATING PORTION, MEANS PIVOTALLY MOUNTING SAID HANDLE PORTIONS ON SAID BODY FOR SWINGING MOVEMENT BETWEEN AN INOPERATIVE POSITION AND A LATCH ACTUATING POSITION, A MULTIPLIER LEVER MOVABLY MOUNTED ON SAID BODY AND HAVING DETENT MEANS ADJACENT ONE END THEREOF, SAID MULTIPLYING LEVER MULTIPLYING THE EXTENT OF MOVEMENT OF SAID GRIPPING PORTION FROM THE INOPERATIVE TOWARD THE LATCH ACTUATING POSITION THEREOF, SAID MULTIPLIER LEVER DETENT MEANS ENGAGING SAID GRIPPING PORTION DETENT MEANS WHEN SAID GRIPPING PORTION REACHES AN INTERMEDIATE GRIPPING POSITION TO RELEASABLY HOLD SAID GRIPPING PORTION IN SAID GRIPPING POSITION, SAID GRIPPING PORTION BEING MOVABLE FROM THE GRIPPING POSITION TO THE LATCH ACTUATING POSITION THEREOF INDEPENDENTLY OF SAID OPERATING PORTION TO CAUSE ENGAGEMENT BETWEEN SAID GRIPPING PORTION AND SAID LATCH RELEASE MEMBER TO ACTUATE SAID LATCH. 